Post-Game Talk: We need a New Goaltender(and Coach); Devils lose 4-1 (Poll)

[The Joker]

We are well past the point of blaming Lou and Conte for this mess.

And I have said before I think it is fair to say the franchise is missing the organization and accountability he brought without glossing over the flaws and mistakes he made at the end (and the mistakes he made in large part was trying to extend sustained success, which is hardly a deadly sin).

The organization could use some ruthlessness right now.

Or do you mean some...rufflessness?

 

[TBF1972]

I think it’s easy to blame Blackwood (and he is at fault) but the coyotes goalie going insane is what did them in. There were quite a bit of opportunities for the Devils to go up 2-0 or 3-0 but ran into him. Once he got his game going they took a step back and just stopped being aggressive.

blaming blackwood is way to easy. the devils skaters had so many good looks and managed only to score 1 goal. sometimes a goalie steals a game. no need to throw the team under the bus for it.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Conte had a big last f*** you to this franchise with his 2015 draft, still paying for it today.

 

[TBF1972]

He’s one of the few who comes to play on a nightly basis. Can’t say the same for several guys who I want off this team come next year.

and not too long ago he was bad. trade him or at least strip the 'C' of him.

one bad game overreactions shouldn't be used to judge any player or coach. in the big scheme the devils are right around, where you can expect the youngest team in the nhl to be. outside of the playoffs with some hopeful pieces, who need time to grow individually and as a team.

 

[TBF1972]

to be fair he said that he’d do that once the best players are their best players. I’d say that’s pretty evident now. Hughes Bratt Hischier Dr Evil are just that at this point. Pity MBW got sick/hurt lost his mojo. I’d expect Fitz to start reshaping the forwards this TDL/offseason thr way he did last year on defense. If he can find a real starting goalie it would help immensely.

i remember the push back to draft a goalie high (top3 rounds) because the devils have blackwood. things change fast, especially in the net. no need for panic moves now. blackwood can still be a starter. he just needs some more help - from the skaters and his backup/platoon.

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

Why not give Schmid another look?

he only started 2 games so far…

 

[TBF1972]

We should be anyway. Shero, Fitz and whoever follows them shouldn't get lifetime immunity. I don't even think Fitz has made a lot of bad decisions to this point but this blindly ride or die with Blackwood crap - whether it's him or the staff - has got to end.

crawford? bernier? it's tough to get the 25-30 year old top starting goalie on the market. they aren't made available by their team for a late round pick.

 

[Eggtimer]

For the most part, I would say that Fitz has done a very good job overall. The only things he has or hasn’t done that I dont like is - not surrounding Jack / Nico / with any competent wingers. He put too much faith in Shara , Kuokkanen , and to an extent Tatar Zacha and Johnson. He has the right idea with acquiring a UFA but Tatar was not the best move or he needed to still add one more winger. All those guys are playing about one line higher than they should be , and I think Shara and Kuokkanen are borderline replacement level players. Yet they still toss them into the lineup and expect them to produce against other teams top lines.
Jack and Nico along with Mercer to an extent need to have better wingers than the pile of crap we have right now. The only one winger that I see as a core piece is Bratt. Other than that…. They are all dime a dozen players .
How do they expect them to develop and improve and gain any confidence when they have to carry the team with sub par linemates? I just don’t understand that part of things

 

[ninetyeight]

What can you say Vejmelka is really really good. In a better team he might be a Vezina candidate. If all the firepower Maple Leafs have couldn't get more than 1 goal in 46 shots (or whatever it was), I'm not surprised the Devils couldn't score. And Blackwood has been really really bad. This is one of the worst stretches a Devils starter has had in their history. Only Cory's losing streak (after his confidence was blown) was worse. The season has been done a long time ago, so it's whatever, but it sucks because Blackwood was suppose to be our future superstar goalie. Now we have to pray that one of Daws or Schmid will pan out, or this whole rebuild won't work. I'd keep Blackwood as a #2, just to see if there's some mental issues or nagging injuries he can sort out. But in the meantime, play anyone else! Maybe give Blackwood every fifth game at most to see how he does.

The team looked absolutely dominant in the first period, but once they realized they can't score on that goalie and Coyotes can score on Blackwood with any shot, they folded. I think if we switch goalies, we win this game 7-0 or something. I'd fire Ruff right now and let Nas coach the rest of the season. The team has played very well under him, I think he has a better record than Ruff. Then unless he goes on a magical winning streak, fire the entire staff in the off-season and get a new crew for 22-23.

Tough schedule coming up, 2 x Carolina, 2 x Leafs, 1 x Tampa, 1 x Dallas, 1 x LA. I think we're lucky if we get even 4 points out of that.

Can't defend Zacha anymore. I always liked the guy and believed in his potential, and when people started turning on him, it made me want to defend him even more. But I just can't anymore. He has all the tools, but I think he just lacks compete level. He has a good shot, good vision and IQ and has good defensive skills (when he feels like trying). If he would play like Nico he'd be a 30 goal scorer 60pts guy. He just floats there and only seems to try when the puck is in close proximity. There were tons of times he could have got to the puck first, cleared the puck etc had he put just a little more effort into it. Right now he doesn't have any trade value though, so I don't know if it makes any sense to trade him for a 3rd round pick or another lost cause.

Kuokkanen is still bad. Last season he looked like he could possibly become the best finnish Devil of all time (Vatanen still holds that title, yeah I know), but instead of improving, he has regressed. He's slow andd lacks puck skills. Seems to be alright defensively, but his lack of other attributes (skating) make that useless. Sharangovich was invisible again, he seems to suffer from the Palmieri syndrome. It's unfortunate he went to covid protocol right when he finally found his game again. I expect him to float a couple of games here and there and then have another 3 game point streak.

 

[BurntToast]

You can blame the team not scoring “today” but they also only gave up 17 shots in 60 minutes. Blackwood doesn’t control rebounds at all, which is a issue because he also hardly ever traps a puck, in his glove, by smothering it, even when it hits in the body. Is there 3 freaking, 4 if you include the AHL retired goalies/goalie coaches.

 

[MadDevil]

crawford? bernier? it's tough to get the 25-30 year old top starting goalie on the market. they aren't made available by their team for a late round pick.

Yeah I'm not sure how much I can really blame Fitz for not having another option after Blackwood when he's signed a solid backup two years in a row, only to have them retire and have their hip go to shit. In season it's just hard to find another decent option in goal. You're pretty much left with cheap options with baggage or waiver wire pickups.

 

[Billdo]

Vesey getting a vote is strange to me. He at least is trying. I'm arguably the biggest Zacha supporter here and he's been a joke the last like almost 20 games. It pains me to even type that. Tatar has been a nothing burger. Same with Kuokkanen. We've got a ton of guys who are quite literally doing nothing. At the end of the day all of this stuff is starting to pile up on Fitz feet. This organizations fan base doesn't deserve this. It's been 10 years of absolute suck minus one fluke year. Coaching changes, roster turnover, etc and the same results.

 

[NJDevs26]

crawford? bernier? it's tough to get the 25-30 year old top starting goalie on the market. they aren't made available by their team for a late round pick.

I was specifically referring to the last two months and the utter lack of accountability for Blackwood continuing to suck without even so much as pulling him from games.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Why would the Devils leadership hire a coach that lived decades of mediocrity in the Buffalo Sabres organization?

Lamoriello used to reach for the stars! He hand picked the best from an organization that has won 27 Stanley Cups.

Jacques LeMaire, Larry Robinson, and Pat Burns!

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Mac needs to be shut down for a while. Play the scrubs, what’s the difference at this point?

That's what I don't get. The "best chance to win" argument flew out the window like ten shitty performances ago.

 

[Guadana]

s-it happanes. We were unlucky, Blackweed cant save anything. Zacha isnt lookin like future devils player, tatar is in the same category and he was option for a couple of years.
There are a couple of defensemen we must replace in time. Work in progress. This will be a thing before our young leaders will mature.

Hope Fitz will make right conclusions.

 

[tr83]

Why would the Devils leadership hire a coach that lived decades of mediocrity in the Buffalo Sabres organization?

Lamoriello used to reach for the stars! He hand picked the best from an organization that has won 27 Stanley Cups.

Jacques LeMaire, Larry Robinson, and Pat Burns!

We had Kevin Constantine, John MacLean, and Robbie Ftorek

 

[glenwo2]

I'd fire Ruff right now and let Nas coach the rest of the season. The team has played very well under him, I think he has a better record than Ruff. Then unless he goes on a magical winning streak, fire the entire staff in the off-season and get a new crew for 22-23.

The only way I'd bring Nas back is if the Devils run-the-table and get into the Postseason.

That's about as likely as any of us winning the Powerball Jackpot.

(Plus, enough with the Hynes stooge. It's finally time to move the F on.)

Tough schedule coming up, 2 x Carolina, 2 x Leafs, 1 x Tampa, 1 x Dallas, 1 x LA. I think we're lucky if we get even 4 points out of that.

We may get shut out (as far as points go). It doesn't look good.

 

[glenwo2]

Vesey getting a vote is strange to me. He at least is trying. I'm arguably the biggest Zacha supporter here and he's been a joke the last like almost 20 games. It pains me to even type that. Tatar has been a nothing burger. Same with Kuokkanen. We've got a ton of guys who are quite literally doing nothing. At the end of the day all of this stuff is starting to pile up on Fitz feet. This organizations fan base doesn't deserve this. It's been 10 years of absolute suck minus one fluke year. Coaching changes, roster turnover, etc and the same results.

Bratt getting a vote (not gonna call out the poster here) is even more strange.

Can't imagine why unless the poster thought "goat" was GOAT instead of just "goat".

 

[tailfins]

crawford? bernier? it's tough to get the 25-30 year old top starting goalie on the market. they aren't made available by their team for a late round pick.

Like Nedeljkovic (went for a 3rd and Bernier's UFA rights after being waived)? Lehner (went for a 5th, and then almost traded this summer)? Mrazek (UFA)? Ullmark (UFA)?

You also have:
Andersen - who was a starter but too old for your range
Vanacek - not a starter, but fits your age

We went for an older 1B who had injury issues last year. The Devils clearly anointed Blackwood as the starter. It was a reasonable move, but it backfired. But, it wasn't some last ditch / only option for Fitz. There were plenty of alternatives.

It's been just about 7 years since Lou got the boot. At what point do you say this organization is under performing? When do you hold people accountable? I don't consider moving on from Shero holding anyone accountable. The reasons given weren't that there was an issue with personnel strategy or execution, but rather management style. Ownership hired his #2 and kept most of the org in place.

 

[Guadana]

Lehner (went for a 5th, and then almost traded this summer)? Mrazek (UFA)?

They are both not a great options. Mrazek is injury prone too.
Anyway we cant enter into the next season with Blackwood\Bernier duo.

 

[JimEIV]

That goalie wasn't particularly good, our offense was inept. That guy is giving up well over 3 goals a game and has 6 wins and 14 losses in 21 starts. If you prefer to lose 2-1 instead of 4-1...ok I guess? But the goaltending topic, to me, largely looks like a distraction topic to avoid talking about how inept our skaters actually are...

In the D zone we constantly stand and watch the puck...its been going on for years ..Our forwards suck in the D zone...not a single one of them is even decent....

.Arizona only had 17 shots but by my count there were at least 4 from near or in-between the hash marks completely uncontested.. Crouse and Larsson's goals were exactly that...puck zipping around the ice, our team watching, an eventually a quality shot down low between the circles. It's a joke to watch that happen game after game, year after year and talk about goaltending as the sole problem.

This team isn't good...and no amount of goaltending is going to change that.

 

[Better Call Sal]

That goalie wasn't particularly good, our offense was inept. That guy is giving up well over 3 goals a game and has 6 wins and 14 losses in 21 starts. If you prefer to lose 2-1 instead of 4-1...ok I guess? But the goaltending topic, to me, largely looks like a distraction topic to avoid talking about how inept our skaters actually are...

In the D zone we constantly stand and watch the puck...its been going on for years ..Our forwards suck in the D zone...not a single one of them is even decent....

.Arizona only had 17 shots but by my count there were at least 4 from near or in-between the hash marks completely uncontested.. Crouse and Larsson's goals were exactly that...puck zipping around the ice, our team watching, an eventually a quality shot down low between the circles. It's a joke to watch that happen game after game, year after year and talk about goaltending as the sole problem.

This team isn't good...and no amount of goaltending is going to change that.

I understand what you're trying to say, but it's funny you used the argument about Vejmelka's stats on the season when Blackwood's stats are actually worse.

Take them for what you want but Mac's GAA and Save Percentage are worse. Vejmelka's rocking a .910 SV% on the season after last night and Mac's is at a .894%.

We folded as soon as they scored a goal which is absolutely on the skaters. But Mac is not giving this team any confidence back there either. It's a messy situation.

There's only a handful of skaters who kept busting their ass out there last night, the rest weren't noticeable in the slightest.

 

[guitarguyvic]

That goalie wasn't particularly good, our offense was inept. That guy is giving up well over 3 goals a game and has 6 wins and 14 losses in 21 starts. If you prefer to lose 2-1 instead of 4-1...ok I guess? But the goaltending topic, to me, largely looks like a distraction topic to avoid talking about how inept our skaters actually are...

In the D zone we constantly stand and watch the puck...its been going on for years ..Our forwards suck in the D zone...not a single one of them is even decent....

.Arizona only had 17 shots but by my count there were at least 4 from near or in-between the hash marks completely uncontested.. Crouse and Larsson's goals were exactly that...puck zipping around the ice, our team watching, an eventually a quality shot down low between the circles. It's a joke to watch that happen game after game, year after year and talk about goaltending as the sole problem.

This team isn't good...and no amount of goaltending is going to change that.

I’m as critical of our D as anybody but you can’t possibly expect the opposition to not get any good looks at all. The goalie is there to bail out the team when that happens. There was that horrendous stretch of games of couple of months ago where we had like the worst defense in the league but that hasn’t looked to be the case since. They gave up just 17 shots…and you should know as well as anyone that the timing of the saves makes a difference…Blackwood gave up 3 goals on the first 8 shots…that’s pathetic. There’s no way the team doesn’t recognize Mack sucks and you can tell it affects their game, just look at what happened when he gave up a goal on just the third freakin shot of the game. I was also at the game and saw his body language…it was disgraceful. Guy looks like he doesn’t even want to be in the game. Lotta red flags not only with his performance but also his attitude going back to the anti-vax BS before the season started.

Anyway, I largely agree that this is not a good team overall. But, they’ve looked a bit better the last few weeks and if they had decent goaltending they’d definitely have a few more wins. Not that it means anything all that inspiring. I think there is a massive lack of accountability up and down the org. Fitz has this summer to prove me wrong.

 

[JimEIV]

I understand what you're trying to say, but it's funny you used the argument about Vejmelka's stats on the season when Blackwood's stats are actually worse.

Take them for what you want but his GAA and Save Percentage are much worse. Vejmelka's got a .910 SV% on the season and Mac's is at a .894%.

We folded as soon as they scored a goal which is absolutely on the skaters. But Mac is not giving this team any confidence back there either. It's a messy situation.

This team was built to be an offensive team...

Here is Jack's last 5 games:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	EV	PP	SH	GW	EV	PP	SH	S	S%	SHFT	TOI	HIT	BLK	FOW	FOL	FO%
1	2022-01-19	NJD		ARI	L	0	1	1	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0.0	24	21:04	0	0	5	11	31.3
2	2022-01-13	NJD	@	NYI	L	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0.0	25	20:36	0	1	1	4	20.0
3	2022-01-08	NJD	@	CBJ	L	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0.0	27	25:43	0	0	3	9	25.0
4	2022-01-06	NJD		CBJ	W	1	2	3	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	33.3	24	19:00	0	1	6	6	50.0
5	2022-01-04	NJD	@	BOS	L	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	0.0	28	20:08	1	1	8	12	40.

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Do you not see what is happening here? If your best players aren't your best players night in and night out you aren't going to win....Period. That is it. No advance stats or rorschach heat map is going change this fact.

Somehow Blackwood had a .969 SV% against Columbus a few days ago when Jack's managed 3 points playing 19 minutes....Anecdotal? I think not. This all boils down to the lowest common denominator...Score more than your opponent. You can win by scoring a lot or not giving up a lot...The best teams do both, we do neither.

Most of these discussions are nothing more than clouding the fact that we suck at Offense and Defense.